Abstract
This article first analyses the assumptions concerning the family and its relationship to the state, as well as linked assumptions concerning citizenship, that underlie current Dutch family migration policies (including the recent proposals for new restrictive measures). It next compares the national with the EU perspective on family, (welfare) state and citizenship, considers to what degree these differ, and reflects on what, in the process of harmonising family migration policies, might be at stake in terms of social relations within the EU.